Cladding in 27 high-rise tower blocks in England fail fire tests

Ellis Wolfe

Britain's government said local officials across the country Sunday should urgently submit samples of exterior panels from apartment towers after authorities found that all samples tested so far have failed fire safety standards.

Holyrood is to carry out its own investigation into the safety of high-rise blocks in the wake of the Grenfell Tower tragedy in London MSPs on the Local Government and Communities Committee are to expand an on-going inquiry into housing and building regulations in Scotland to include high-rise accommodation.

Mr Javid said: "I can inform the House that as of midday today the cladding from 75 high-rise buildings in 26 local authority areas has failed the combustibility test".

People gather in a leisure centre in Swiss Cottage, north London, Saturday June 24, 2017, after the local council evacuated some 650 homes overnight.

Camden Council said that staff would continue asking those people who had not yet left the estate to vacate their flats.

"We've got nowhere to go".

She said the government would ensure councils take "immediate action" over the failed tests, adding: "Absolutely our first priority is people's safety".

Islington, Lambeth and Wandsworth joined Barnet, Brent, Camden and Hounslow on the growing list of London boroughs, while 11 other areas are yet to be named.

Gould refused to be drawn on whether there was a deadline to evacuate residents, saying: "The last thing I want to do is force people out of their homes".

And Simon Taylor, who has fitted cladding to 25 local authority tower blocks, told the Telegraph that the cost for each building would be around £1m.

The council said those issues, combined with the flammable cladding that encased the buildings, meant residents had to leave immediately.

Experts have described a "chimney effect" in the exterior cladding, which saw the fire drawn up through a cavity between the interior of the building and the exterior cladding.

Around 600 buildings across the country are believed to have similar fire risks, of which at least 20 have been confirmed to have the unsafe and unauthorised cladding.

All "complete bodies" have been removed from the wreckage but there remains "a bad reality that we may not find or identify everyone who died due to the intense heat", she said.

"In my discussions with building standards professionals in the Scottish government, they were able to recount to me the responses that they have made over a number of years to specific events and specific fires". The apartments were evacuated after fire inspectors concluded that the buildings were unsafe because of pr.

The blocks had been evacuated following news that cladding used on the Chalcots Estate was similar to that which spread the Grenfell Tower fire in Kensington earlier this month. Look, you've got to err on the side of caution.

She said the fire service "told us they could not guarantee our residents" safety in those blocks'. That's the assessment of resident Edward Strange, who, according to The Associated Press, told British broadcaster Sky News they should have been given a choice.

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